UK - Seven statues, including those of Nelson Mandela and Millicent Fawcett, the suffragist, were defaced with graffiti during a pro-trans protest in central London on Saturday. Pro-trans protesters have vowed to take their demonstrations across the country, with a dozen rallies planned for next weekend. In Westminster on Saturday, seven statues, including those of Nelson Mandela and Millicent Fawcett, the suffragist, were defaced with graffiti when thousands of demonstrators protested against the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of a woman. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, described the vandalism as “disgraceful” and “unacceptable”, and Scotland Yard has launched a criminal investigation to identify those responsible. Police forces will now be braced for further potential flashpoints this weekend, with gatherings planned in towns and cities from Darlington to Southampton.

UK - Misinformation, vandalism and abuse after Supreme Court ruling have exposed misogyny wrapped in a rainbow flag. There are two ways of looking at the Supreme Court’s judgment in the For Women Scotland case. The first is actually to read it. If you do that, you’ll find a thorough and considered ruling that balances the rights of women and the rights of trans people under the Equality Act, while reaffirming throughout that both “sex” and “gender reassignment” are protected characteristics in law. The second is to look at the reaction from trans activists and their allies, which is almost entirely unhinged from anything in the judgment itself. On social media, posters paraphrased Martin Niemöller (“First they came for the trans people …”) as though this were a new Holocaust. The Good Law Project accused the Supreme Court of ignoring trans voices, while acknowledging that no trans activist organisation had applied to intervene.

UK - Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said a woman is an “adult female”, as he welcomed the Supreme Court’s judgment on the issue. In his first public comments since the justices’ decision on April 16, the Prime Minister said he is “really pleased” with the clarity that the court’s ruling offers. But it marked a contrast with his comments before the court ruling. Sir Keir, who has previously said “transwomen are women”, was asked to repeat that statement but instead said: “I think the Supreme Court has answered that question.” Asked if that means he does not believe a transwoman is a woman, he told ITV West Country: “A woman is an adult female, and the court has made that absolutely clear."

UK - Activists who oppose the Supreme Court’s judgment on the definition of a woman are guilty of “wishful thinking”, a senior member of the equalities watchdog has said. Protests in Parliament Square against the ruling over the weekend saw statues vandalised, while Labour MPs discussed how to “organise” against the decision. Akua Reindorf KC, one of eight commissioners for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), told The Times the Supreme Court’s ruling was a “model of clarity” and those seeking to undermine it were “fuelled by misunderstanding”. The Sunday Times reported that the campaigners who won the Supreme Court battle have been inundated with death threats and misogynistic abuse since the judgment.

USA - Harvard University is suing the Trump administration after it froze $2.2 billion of the school’s funding. The department for education accused the university of being unduly influenced by faculty, staff and students who are “more committed to activism than scholarship”. Donald Trump demanded the university must only hire faculty and admit students based on merit and “cease all preferences based on race, colour, religion, sex, or national origin” and have an external panel audit the faculty and students of each department to ensure “viewpoint diversity”. Funding was frozen last week after Harvard rejected the demands.

USA - The Trump administration is reviewing a series of proposals aimed at encouraging marriage and increasing birthrates in the United States, according to individuals involved in recent policy discussions, the New York Times reported on Monday. Among the ideas under consideration are a $5,000 "baby bonus" for new mothers, reserving 30% of Fulbright scholarships for applicants who are married or have children, and government-supported programs that educate women about fertility awareness methods, such as menstrual cycle tracking, according to NYT. The proposals have been shared in recent weeks by advocates of pronatalism, a movement that seeks to reverse declining birthrates through policy and cultural initiatives. Administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have shown interest in the issue. President Donald Trump has previously voiced support for a "baby boom" and has emphasized the role of families in the national agenda.

UK - Non-crime hate incidents are a waste of time at best, and a threat to free speech at worst. The UK is supposed to be the home of free speech – and a country where the police chase criminals, not law-abiding members of the public. So I was horrified, last November, when police officers called on Allison Pearson, a Telegraph journalist, who initially believed that they were there to investigate a non-crime hate incident (NCHI) based on a comment she posted on X. In my view the police should have one over-riding priority: catching criminals and protecting the public from crime.

VATICAN - The battle to succeed Pope Francis is one for the very soul of the Catholic Church and its over a billion followers around the world. Whoever becomes the 267th Pope will dictate the direction of the Church for the next decade or more on the most pressing, and contentious, issues facing society. Pope Francis broke with the conservative stance of his two predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and his papacy will be remembered for his liberalism on LGBTQ+ rights, his support for refugees, and his focus on climate change.

ISRAEL - Pope Francis became increasingly vocal in condemning Israel’s war against Hamas in the months before his death, including a nativity scene featuring baby Jesus wrapped in a keffiyeh, which was unveiled at Pope Francis’ Nativity Scene and Christmas Tree inauguration in December in St Peter’s Square. The piece, titled “Nativity of Bethlehem 2024,” was designed by two artists from Bethlehem, Johny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi.

VATICAN - Battle lines within the Vatican. Fraser Nelson argues that while Francis seemed radical, he avoided the real fight. At the last papal conclave, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio regarded himself as a rank outsider. No Latin American had ever been made pope. His career as a Jesuit had been defined in the battle against clerical Marxism, which he won, but ended up exiled as a result. His specialism seemed too niche to make him a candidate; too much of a misfit. By the end, that’s what they wanted: an insurgent who’d shake things up, without stoking civil war.

VATICAN - My own sense is that St John Paul the Great left the greater legacy. His inaugural words, “Be not afraid”, inspired the defeat of Soviet Communism and the greatest victory for human dignity and freedom since 1945. His papacy was the first to embrace the entire world, symbolised in his frequent travels.

USA - American equities fell sharply and the dollar weakened as investors digested rising uncertainty over the future of US economic policy amid President Trump’s repeated attacks on the chairman of the Federal Reserve. Last Thursday Trump said the “termination” of Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chairman “cannot come fast enough”, after Powell raised concerns about the impact of tariffs on the US economy. The president renewed his attack on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday, calling Powell “TOO LATE AND WRONG” and demanding immediate interest rate cuts. Any move to undermine the independence of the Fed, which manages inflation and has a mandate to support full employment, will spook financial markets. The US central bank, whose next meeting is in May, has so far kept rates on hold this year after lowering them three times in 2024.

UK - Sir Keir Starmer is close to striking a major trade deal with the EU that would allow British arms companies to sell billions of pounds of weapons to European allies. British firms will be able to bid for the new €150 billion EU defence fund as part of Starmer’s reset with the bloc after the UK made significant concessions to Brussels on fishing rights. The prime minister will host an EU-UK summit on May 19 in London as he seeks to ease trade barriers with Brussels. British companies such as BAE Systems and Babcock were originally excluded from the fund — while countries such as Norway, Moldova, South Korea, Japan, Albania and North Macedonia were included — because the UK has not signed a defence and security pact with Brussels.

UK - Ultra-Processed Foods now leading cause of early death, warns BBC doctor. Doctor Chris van Tulleken has claimed one particular food item is 'worse than smoking', and is now the biggest cause of 'early death' in humans and animals. In his recent work titled "Ultra-Processed People," Dr Chris addresses the persistent confusion about what constitutes a healthy diet: "For a very long time, we have been incredibly confused about what to eat." He points out the common misunderstanding regarding unhealthy foods: "We've called the foods that harm us junk food and processed food - high fat, salt and sugar food."

VATICAN - Pope Francis has died at the age of 88, after 12 years as spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church. His death has set in motion the centuries-old process of electing a new Pope. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church. Roman Catholics believe he represents a direct line back to Jesus Christ. He is considered a living successor to St Peter, who was chief among Christ's initial disciples, the Apostles. That gives him full and unhindered power over the entire Catholic Church and makes him an important source of authority for the world's roughly 1.4 billion Catholics.